


The Horizon Is Behind Us

by mingomangomongo



Category: ATEEZ (Band)
Genre: Action, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Barbarian Jongho, But also happy Yunho, Fantasy, M/M, Pirates, Pirates and Barbarians, Prepare thyselves for angry Yunho this time, barbarians - Freeform, lowkey crack probably, pirate mingi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-15
Updated: 2020-12-16
Packaged: 2021-01-31 02:10:31
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 7,220
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21438469
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mingomangomongo/pseuds/mingomangomongo
Summary: Swashbuckling pirate Song Mingi rescues a strange boy from being used as monster bait, and his world is turned upside down as a result.
Relationships: Choi Jongho/Song Mingi
Comments: 55
Kudos: 101





	1. [001] Forest Depths

When Mingi opened his eyes, he was sore from head to toe. His eyes fixed on the orange-painted sky, and he remembered that he’d engaged in a fight and then slept on the deck. Neither of those things tended to lead to very much comfort afterward, which explained the state of his aching muscles.

Hongjoong was standing near the rail, the captain gazing out over the horizon as the sun set. Mingi pushed himself up to a sitting position and observed him for a few short moments, watching the wind toy with his short-cropped blue-violet hair.

Finally, Mingi got to his feet, ignoring the screaming of his muscles as they were forced to move in ways they didn’t want to. He crossed the deck slowly, cautiously joining his captain at the rail.

“Is there something on your mind, Captain?”

“Shore leave,” the short man responded, sparing Mingi a short glance. “We will be taking a break at our next stop, in Thiel.”

“Thiel.” Mingi grimaced. “I would be lying if I said I was excited.”

“Whether either of us or like it or not, Thiel is the closest point where we can take shore leave and be relatively safe,” Hongjoong reminded. “Our personal feelings have to be put aside for the moment.”

Mingi dipped his chin in the tiniest of nods. He understood - he had been Hongjoong’s first mate for two years, and a member of the_ Wonderland_’s crew for thirteen. He knew a great deal about the ship and how she and the crew had to be operated by the captain and first mate. Hongjoong’s former first mate had taught Mingi most of what he knew before he had disappeared. That was when Mingi had been given the role - and the first thing that he had to do was get Hongjoong back to himself after the loss of his first mate and closest friend.

Hongjoong had been the captain for six years, and there was no one who could truly replace his original first mate, but Mingi did his best to replicate the other man’s efficiency in his duties and all facets that involved the _Wonderland_ and her crew.

“Thiel is only a few days away,” Mingi remarked. “Are you going to be informing the crew about the shore leave?”

“Once we arrive,” Hongjoong answered, “but not before.”

Mingi nodded, and left his captain alone to stare at the horizon.

* * *

Thiel was an island covered with sprawling forests, clear rivers, and split by a great valley in the very center. It was a lawless place, which was why it was the perfect location for a pirate’s shore leave. Mingi, however, despised Thiel, because the _Wonderland_ had encountered trouble there almost as often as they went.

Nonetheless, Mingi was doing as his captain had ordered. He was out on the land, stretching his legs and enjoying nature as the forest swallowed him. The pirate wasn’t worried about getting lost, because he had a good sense of direction; and he wasn’t worried about much of anything else, either. He was armed and more than capable of using his weaponry in the event someone, or something, chose to attack him.

The forest was deep, seeming to stretch on for eternity as Mingi strolled farther and farther into its depths. It grew darker as the trees grew closer, blocking out some of the sunlight that filtered through the branches and leaves. It was eerie, but Mingi enjoyed the undisturbed calm. Even the birds were growing quiet, as though the forest was waiting for something with bated breath.

And then voices broke the silence.

Mingi approached the direction the sounds came from, hand resting on the butt of one of his flintlocks. While he stalked through the trees, sticking to the darkest shadows, he kept an eye out for sign of the voices’ owners, but it took him a few minutes to get close enough that he could see a group of men trying to tie a snarling, flailing furred creature to a tree. As Mingi got closer, he could see that the creature was not a creature after all. It was a boy clad in furs and hides, trying to escape from the men who were trying to restrain him.

This was something Mingi had never encountered on the island before. Thiel didn’t have people who dressed like the boy the men were trying to bind to the tree - or at least, if they did exist on the island, they must have come to the island recently. Thiel was not an island that had native people. Everyone who dwelled on the island had come to the island from another place and settled down there.

A pirate Mingi may have been, but he didn’t like the looks of what he was seeing. The boy looked young, and there was no good reason for him to be tied to a tree in the depths of one of Thiel’s forests. There were too many monsters that roamed with a taste for the flesh of humans (and nonhumans); Mingi knew that if the boy was left, he would stand no chance of surviving.

And while Mingi wasn’t soft-hearted, he wasn’t going to allow that to happen.

The pirate stole ever closer, sticking to the cover of trees and shadows to prevent his approach from being detected. The boy’s captors were preoccupied with trying to restrain him, and he was keeping them busy enough that they probably wouldn’t have noticed even if Mingi had been making noise.

The boy, on the other hand, seemed to realize that there was someone else present. While he continued to struggle and shout words in a harsh, brutal language, his eyes were narrowed and scanning the trees around him, as though he could pick Mingi out with his eyes. It made the pirate wonder if he was human, or if he was just very sharp. Sharper than his captors, at the very least.

Growing tired of his struggles, one of the men attempting to tie the boy to the tree struck him in the side of the head with the butt of a hunting knife. As the boy went limp, Mingi grimaced and slid two of his flintlocks off of his hip. There were five of the men, and only one of him, but he was certain he could handle all five. None of them had their firearms in hand (they had left them in a pile beside another tree, so that they could fight with their captive), and none of them seemed to be particularly smart. Mingi, on the other hand, was intelligent and had several already-loaded firearms on his person.

He didn’t set himself up for failure.

Taking up a position behind a tree, Mingi peered around and waited for one of the men to be in the right line. Cocking the hammer of one of his flintlocks back, he pulled the trigger and ducked quickly behind the tree before he could be seen.

Naturally, the cluster of men erupted in chaos. Mingi took advantage of this to pick another one off, and then shot a third as well. At this point, the other two were running for their rifles, having finally realized that all of their lives were in danger. Mingi dropped to a kneeling position to fire off one more shot, striking the fourth one in the knee before he could get to his weapons. The pirate needed one of them alive to give him and his captain answers.

The fifth was useless to him, however. He got off one shot before Mingi picked him off as well.

The pirate gave the carnage and excitement a few moments to settle before he emerged from behind the tree, entering the clearing with one flintlock in hand and another easily accessible. The man he had shot in the knee was trying to drag himself away from him, shaking and sweating from the fear that had consumed him. Mingi relished the sight, the corner of his lips curving up in a wicked smile.

“P-p-please don’t kill me,” the man begged, trying to shuffle back further.

“Why would I kill you?” the pirate asked, deceptively quiet as he loomed ever closer. “Why, I need you alive. If you were to die, there would be no one else to answer my questions.” Quick as a snake, he shot forward and caught the man by his ankle. “Now, make this easy on me, or I will put a ball of lead through your other knee as well,” he warned. The man nodded hastily, lower lip beginning to tremble. Mingi was tempted to spit on him, but he didn’t have time to waste with frivolous behavior and instead straightened. He dragged his captive behind him as he approached the unconscious boy half-secured to the tree, tucking away his flintlock to draw a hunting knife instead. The pirate cut the ropes that were holding the boy to the foliage, but decided not to cut the ropes around his wrists in case he woke and became violent on the trip back to the _Wonderland_.

Mingi had no idea what he was getting himself into.


	2. [002] Answers

“Mingi, what is this?”

It wasn’t the best way that Hongjoong could have reacted to Mingi’s arrival with two unexpected individuals, one unconscious and the other dragged behind the pirate, trying to restrain his blubbering from all of the pain he was in. It also wasn’t the worst, however; at the most, Hongjoong looked fairly done and mildly disappointed. The captain was accustomed to many of Mingi’s antics, but the first mate usually didn’t bring things (or people) back with him from his outings. That required Mingi involving himself with other people, and he just didn’t like to do that. It was bad enough that he was expected to leave the ship when they made stops for shore leave, and that people would appear when he least expected them.

“Well, this one” -Mingi swung the man he’d been dragging by the ankle in front of him, and dropped him in a disheveled pile before his captain- “is a man who was in a group of men trying to tie the other one to a tree.”

Hongjoong didn’t look any less disappointed. In fact, he almost seemed as though he was more disappointed, although Mingi doubted that was the case. “He was trying to tie… _him_ to a tree?”

The captain voiced it in a questioning manner, one that told Mingi that he was questioning two things: that the other individual Mingi had brought with him was a male, and that he was the one that the men had been trying to restrain. Mingi responded with a nod, shifting the fur-clad being around on his shoulder. “I brought the bleeding one so that he could explain what their intentions were. I doubt that they were anything good, considering that they were in the depths of the forest and this one did not want to be there.”

“Mingi, you really must stop bringing strays to the _Wonderland_,” Hongjoong grumbled. He no longer looked so disappointed, however. Instead, he looked interested, peering down at the man on the ground.

The boy slung over Mingi’s shoulder still had yet to move or show any signs of waking, out cold from the blow he’d taken from the butt of a gun. Mingi decided that it was probably a good idea to take him to the infirmary so that Yeosang could take a look at him, and left Hongjoong to handle the one that was still whimpering on the ground. The captain was more than capable in that field, whereas Mingi was more of an observer. He was also capable of getting answers out of people, but Hongjoong had a way that made them spill before he’d even touched a tool or uttered a threat. There was just something about him that made him impossible to refuse, and he was one of the most terrifying people that Mingi knew.

Mingi, on the other hand, just made a bloody, pulpy mess out of people until they started answering his questions.

* * *

Yeosang didn’t say anything for several moments, instead staring at the boy Mingi had deposited on one of the infirmary’s cots. It was the quiet sort of inspection that Mingi knew as one of curiosity and wonder, the saw-bones prowling around the cot until his studies appeared to be satisfied, and he twisted around to stare at Mingi.

“Why did you bring this to me?”

The first mate blinked. “Well, because he got knocked out cold and I am unsure of whether or not he was injured by his captors,” he responded. “I found him in the forest. There were men trying to tie him to a tree.”

Yeosang shook his head and muttered something under his breath about the strange habits of people. He moved away from the cot and to one of his oddly-secured cabinets, retrieving a bottle from inside. “Is it necessary to keep him tied?”

“I do not know how he will react to waking here, so yes. It is necessary,” Mingi answered apologetically. “Once he wakes, we will determine whether or not he can be untied.”

Yeosang grimaced. “He looks like a wild one.”

“I do not think he is an inhabitant of Thiel. If he is, he is from a community that I have not yet encountered.” Mingi gazed down at the unconscious boy, figure shrouded by the furs he wore. “He is dressed far too warmly for this climate. And look at this.” He held up one of the knives he had taken from the boy’s belt on the way to the infirmary. “This is made of wood that cannot be found on this island. Unless he has been trading with foreign people, I believe he is from elsewhere and was brought here.”

“Mmm, I would say it’s likely he was brought here, and by force.” Yeosang was examining the boy’s wrists, not untying him but taking the time to examine the red and chafed skin. “I would say he has been in captivity for some time. More than a fortnight, at the least.”

“The question is, why? What was the purpose of bringing him here?” Mingi wondered.

“Perhaps it was not intended to be him specifically,” mused Yeosang. “He might have merely been the only choice, or the best choice.”

The first mate didn’t quite think that was it, however. There was something that felt off about it, like perhaps the selection of the boy had been intentional. Of course, there was only one way to find out, and that was to be there to ask some of the questions of the captive he had brought with him. He’d give the captain time to get the man worked over, however. There was no point in interrupting Hongjoong when he was working his prey over.

Yeosang inhaled, and then exhaled decisively. “Whatever the case, I do not need you hovering and getting in my way when I am trying to conduct a medical examination. The door is over there, please leave and shut it on your way out.”

Mingi shook his head. “As you wish, Yeosang.”

* * *

Hongjoong had sent for Mingi as soon as the man was ready to answer questions, and now the first mate and the captain were standing over him, Mingi in charge of asking the questions until Hongjoong decided he had something he wanted to ask.

“Why were you trying to tie that boy to a tree?”

The man’s eyes slid from side to side, like he was seeking a way out but knew deep down that he wouldn’t find one. He inhaled deeply and exhaled just as deeply, slowly raising his gaze to meet Mingi’s. “We was tryin’ t’ bait a manticore.”

“With a person?” Mingi’s voice was low, the pirate simmering with anger. “What possessed you to do that?”

“We got told to,” the man answered. “We was told a manticore wouldn’t be able t’ resist his smell, an’ that we could catch a good’un with ’im as bait. Manticore hide, claws, an’ teeth fetch a high price. We wasn’t gonna pass that up, now was we?”

Mingi scowled. “A goat is good manticore bait. Using the life of another person for that is far from necessary,” he spat, but took a few deep breaths to try and calm himself, before he slaughtered the only source of answers that he had. Well, perhaps not, but he wasn’t sure if the boy in the infirmary would be a good source of answers or not.

Hongjoong leaned forward. “Did you capture him for that purpose?” he inquired. “Or was there something else?”

“Well, we ain’t the ones who captured ’im,” the man admitted. “We got a deal for ’im and for whatever manticore we lured with ’im an’ we took it. I don’ know why ’e got picked up by th’ supplier, but we ain’t the ones who got ’im.”

As though that really made it any better. Mingi wanted to snort, but he contained himself. “And who was this supplier?”

“I didn’ get ’is name, I didn’t deal with ’im personally,” the man defensively stated. “’e was just a man who just wanted t’ sell, that’s all. There wasn’t nothin’ special about ’im.”

“He was selling you a person,” Mingi stated. “Do you buy other people often? It seems to come quite naturally to you.”

“It’s just a business transaction,” the man complained. “All we’re tryin’ t’ do is line our pockets a li’l bit. Yer pirates, ya can’t act all high ’n mighty when ya murder ’n plunder ’n the like. Tradin’ in flesh ain’t any worse ’n what you do.”

“We can act however we want,” Hongjoong corrected. “This is _our_ ship, and as I recall, no one has asked you to run off at the lip about piracy. I want to know where you acquired the boy from.”

“I don’t know th’ man’s name!” the man protested hotly.

“At this point, I am not asking about the man you bought him from,” Hongjoong snapped. “I would like to know _where_ you were when you bought him. It would benefit you to speak now, before I have Mingi toss you back into the forest. We might catch a worthy manticore.”

At the threat, the man grew pale. “W-we picked ’im up from th’ port of Eschran,” he stuttered. “That’s where ’e was sold at.”

Mingi straightened. Eschran was more than a fortnight’s voyage from Thiel. He wanted to ask how long the man and his comrades had the boy in captivity, but he decided he most likely didn’t want to know the answer.

“You have outlived your usefulness,” Hongjoong decided, his grey-blue eyes twinkling as he stared down at the man on the planks of the hold. “Mingi, would you please dispose of him?”

“Of course, captain.”


	3. [003] The Creature

Mingi left the man’s corpse in a pile in the forest, haphazardly tossed against a tree to rot. The pirate was certain that wild animals or monsters would get to the body before the morning, and would strip it flesh from bone. It would be a cruel, but fitting, turn of fate. The man deserved to be devoured for what he and his comrades had attempted to do to a young boy.

It would be better if the man was to be eaten alive, but Mingi had gotten tired of his pleading for mercy and had slit his throat. If only he had more patience, it might not have turned out so bad for the sadistic side of himself. That side had wanted the man to suffer as much as he deserved. Mingi wasn’t sure it was even possible for a soul to suffer quite that much, however. To be so bold as to try to sacrifice someone else to bait a monster… Suffering without end would still be too merciful for a person like that. Mingi would classify him among the worst scum to crawl the earth, and Mingi had encountered plenty of _scum_ along his travels.

Hongjoong was on the deck of the _Wonderland_ when Mingi arrived, the captain staring off into space once more. The first mate decided to leave him be and head back down to the infirmary, intent on checking on the boy he had brought back from the forest. He headed below, aware of Hongjoong’s eyes traveling to momentarily rest upon him. Mingi did not acknowledge the captain’s observations, and the gaze slowly moved away once more.

Hongjoong, apparently, had nothing to say. That was fine with Mingi. He didn’t particularly want to get into a discussion with the captain where he tried to pick apart why Mingi had decided it was a good idea to bring back strangers from the forest and why he was bringing strays onto the _Wonderland_ again. Sometimes, it felt as though the captain was going to be able to see right through him, and that was something Mingi didn’t want. Some things were better left unknown, and his motivations were among them. He knew that Hongjoong would not think any less of him, but there was a thing called privacy that the pirate valued. He didn’t want any of his thoughts or feelings being dug into, unless he himself chose to lay them bare.

He had what Hongjoong referred to as_ unrealistic expectations_. He wanted everything to occur on his own terms. He felt like that was just nature, however. Was it not a natural thing to want everything to happen in circumstances that one could control?

Mingi knocked on the doorframe before he stepped into the infirmary, Yeosang lifting his head to look at him when he came in. The saw-bones was sitting at one of his counters, looking more drawn and exhausted than Mingi usually saw him. It would appear that their guest had left Yeosang with more questions than answers - a curious thing, that. Yeosang knew much more than he was usually given credit for at first meeting.

“Has he woken yet?”

Yeosang shook his head.

Mingi grimaced. “Do you think he will wake soon?”

The saw-bones sighed. “There is no way for me to tell, Mingi,” he told him patiently. “We will have to wait. He may be merely sleeping; you can try to wake him if you wish.”

Mingi glanced at the creature wrapped in furs. He wasn’t sure how the boy would react to waking up in unfamiliar surroundings, once again on a ship; but there was only one way to find out, and prolonging it would do no good. There was no harm in trying to wake him, after all. The worst that could happen was an explosive reaction from the boy in question.

The pirate move to the cot and shook the boy’s shoulder, trying to be gentle. Being gentle didn’t really come naturally to Mingi, though, so the shaking was a bit rougher than the initial intention.

When the fur-clad creature finally stirred, Mingi moved back and rested his hand on the butt of one of his pistols, preparing to defend himself from an attack that never came. The boy’s initial response to the situation wasn’t to strike out - he opened his eyes slowly, cautiously, and surveyed his surroundings. When his eyes landed on Mingi, he rolled up into a sitting position and reached for a knife that of course wasn’t there. Mingi was glad he had removed the boy’s weapons, as he didn’t want to be stabbed.

Wisely, the boy didn’t move to strike. He watched Mingi warily, as though weighing his chances of escaping the infirmary. Mingi returned the scrutiny, but made no move. He had no desire to startle the young creature; he meant him no harm and didn’t wish to be perceived as threatening.

On the other side of the cot, away from the boy’s line of sight, Yeosang was frozen as well - but he motioned for Mingi to take his hand away from his gun, and after a few moments of weighted thought, the first mate finally did. He moved his hand away from his weapon and let it hang by his side, turning his palms toward the boy to show that his hands were empty.

Several more minutes passed in silent tension before the creature finally relaxed, most of the tension leaving his body even if the wariness remained in his eyes. Mingi could handle that wariness - he didn’t fault the boy for being wary. He had been captured to use for manticore bait, presumably hauled across the ocean to be used in one of the most barbaric manners. To be wary of strangers was something Mingi could only expect of him.

Yeosang finally moved, clearing his throat first to draw the boy’s attention. Wary eyes travelled from Mingi to the saw-bones as the man carefully left his post and crossed to Mingi’s side so that they were both were the creature could see them. Before he allowed himself to relax again, the boy was sure to scan the infirmary for more individuals who could be hiding - again, it was something Mingi couldn’t blame him for.

It was silent, a silence that was filled with tension. The creature kept his eyes trained on Mingi and Yeosang, both of the pirates watching him in turn.

“_Adven’ku_?”

Mingi didn’t recognize the harsh syllables that came out of the creature’s throat when he finally spoke. It was a language that he had never heard - and clearly Yeosang hadn’t either, for his brows furrowed in apparent confusion.

“Pardon?” the saw-bones prompted.

“_Adven’ku_?” the boy repeated. He didn’t seem to understand them either, because he scooted toward the far edge of the cot. His body was leaning toward the edge, tilted like he could fall at any moment. It was a flight response, one Mingi hadn’t anticipated. From the behavior he had witnessed in the forest, he had assumed the boy would be more fight than flight. Apparently that was not the case.

“He may not speak our language,” Yeosang stated helpfully. He looked away from the creature, his eyes boring into the side of Mingi’s face. The first mate shifted, not entirely discomforted by the piercing stare, but wondering what Yeosang hoped to accomplish with it. It wasn’t as though there was anything that Mingi could do if the creature truly couldn’t understand them.

The creature tilted his head, studying the pirates in abject confusion. Mingi couldn’t help but to gaze into the boy’s eyes, getting lost in the silver depths. They were unusual eyes. Silver was an uncommon color, almost as uncommon as the ice blue eyes of the captain and the pale green eyes of Mingi’s predecessor. The creature that was wrapped in furs and leather was quite a specimen.

Where had the savages who had attempted to use him as bait found him?

Or at the very least, where had he been found by the man who had sold him to those savages, if this mysterious man truly existed?

“Perhaps I should not have killed the poor scum,” muttered Mingi.

Yeosang frowned. “You and Captain Hongjoong have always been quick to slit throats and leave for dead, rather than thinking things through. How are we supposed to communicate with this boy? Clearly, we cannot understand him, and he does not appear to understand us.”

“Yes, you have a point, but I doubt the scum could communicate with him either,” grumbled Mingi. He did not enjoy being scolded by the medical officer, who made him out to be far more rash than he was.

“With ‘the scum’ intact, we at least had a starting point to find where the boy is from. Now we are left with nothing but the boy himself, and no way to communicate with him.” Yeosang scowled at Mingi. “Our one clue is gone, most likely in the belly of a beast by this time.”

Unfortunately, Mingi had to admit that Yeosang was partially correct. Due to Mingi’s haste to dispose of the last surviving member of the ‘hunting party’, they had lost one of the two people who knew where the boy had been purchased from at the least. If they couldn't find the man who had sold the boy at Eschran, they would be down to trying to understand what the boy had to say, and figuring out how they could attempt to communicate with him.

Mingi needed a map.

“Stay with the creature,” he commanded Yeosang, and made his way out of the infirmary. He could feel two pairs of eyes following him as he left, one of the stares feeling colder than the other - that was a little more unnerving than anything else that had occurred that day.

The creature’s eyes felt like a cold brush of ice-laden wind. Mingi did not like that feeling.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> mingi thinks of him as 'the creature' rip xDDD  
h-hi late updates are my friend?


	4. [004] The Bowstring

“Why do you need one of my maps, Mingi?” Hongjoong inquired, staring up from his seated position behind his desk with an expression unreadable. Even after all of the years Mingi had spent in Hongjoong’s presence, the first mate couldn’t read his captain’s body language or face when he didn’t want them to be read. Hongjoong was a master at concealing things, a mastery that had come from years of practice and having to wear a mask just to survive.

Mingi didn’t know all of his captain’s secrets, but he knew enough about his captain to know that his life had been a rough one, rougher even than Mingi’s own. Hongjoong had been through so much more than his crew could imagine, and he rarely spoke of any of his experiences. Most of those that Mingi knew of had been told to him by his predecessor, before the original first mate.. .

“The creature may be able to read maps,” Mingi answered. He stood before the captain’s desk, posture straight with shoulders squared and feet planted at shoulder width. His hands were behind his back, head straight and eyes angled down so he could make eye contact with Hongjoong. 

There was nothing that angered Hongjoong more than people not looking him in the eye when they were holding a conversation. It was a display of disrespect, and he did not tolerate being disrespected. 

“The creature,” the captain repeated. “What creature?” 

The first mate cleared his throat. “Forgive me for the confusion, I meant the  _ boy _ . The one that I brought aboard; the boy that those scum were attempting to use as manticore bait. I would like to see if he can read maps, as I could not understand what language he spoke--” 

“He is awake?” Hongjoong interrupted, swinging his feet down from his desk. The movement was so abrupt and hurried that it startled Mingi; he contained this and did not express his surprise, though, because the captain was standing and moving around the desk. 

“Yes, Captain. He is now,” Mingi confirmed, briefly bowing his head. He had realized that he most likely should have told Hongjoong that the creature had awoken before asking about borrowing a map, but that thought was one that had come too late.

The captain strode toward the door of his cabin, Mingi trailing after him. The first mate had formed the assumption that Hongjoong was headed for the infirmary; he came to this conclusion because of his captain’s reaction to the information that the boy had woken. 

And it would seem that this assumption was not wrong. As they moved below, Mingi followed the captain along the familiar route that led to the infirmary. Both men were silent, Mingi not wishing to open a conversation and the captain not uttering a word. There was no telling what was running through Hongjoong’s mind; he was an enigmatic figure at best, his mind and the workings thereof things that Mingi could never explain. He rarely shared his daily musings, even with his first mate; there were, of course, things that he would discuss with Mingi and Yeosang, but those were not common things. Usually, Hongjoong would only discuss what was of the utmost importance with Mingi and sometimes Yeosang. They were left in the dark on most matters, relying on the trust that they had in their captain and his decisions.

Hongjoong had yet to lead any of his crew astray. 

The captain pushed open the door of the infirmary and stepped inside, Mingi at his heels. The creature was seated on one of Yeosang’s tables, pressing himself into the corner - as far from them as he could physically get. He watched them warily, his eyes sharp. That gaze was still cold, and Mingi repressed a shiver. He wouldn’t let the creature know that it had affected him. 

Yeosang frowned. “Captain,” he greeted. 

Hongjoong nodded to Yeosang, and then strode toward the boy who was pressed up against the wall, eyes wild as they flitted side to side in search of an escape. He reminded Mingi of a cornered wild animal. 

“You said you could not understand him?” Hongjoong asked. He didn’t take his eyes off of the boy when he asked, facing the youth with his hands on his hips. It wasn’t the most threatening posture Mingi had seen, but it didn’t make the creature relax in the slightest. He was tense and taught, like a bowstring that had been abused over time and was waiting for the moment the slightest bit more pressure was applied to it and it would snap. 

Something inside Mingi told him he didn’t want to see the bowstring snap. 

“His language was foreign,” the first mate confirmed. “He only said one thing -  _ adven’ku _ .” 

The boy stared at Mingi, and then turned his gaze to Hongjoong. “ _ Adven’ku? _ ”

“I see.” Hongjoong crossed his arms over his chest. “Perhaps that is all he knows how to say.” 

“ _ Zorim dalla, k’krim yos? Adven’ku, ya soshen’ny? _ ”

“Apparently not,” Yeosang drily declared. He stood between Mingi and Hongjoong, also observing their strange visitor. “One thing is certain: that is not a language we have encountered before.”

“Agreed.” Hongjoong took another step forward, and that was the pressure that snapped the bowstring. 

Cold exploded throughout the room, ice coating every hard surface. The temperature plummeted, ferocious winds forced Mingi to the ground. Snow and frost whipped through the air, a blizzard formed in a matter of seconds. Even if Mingi had been able to open his eyes, he was certain all he would have seen was white. He could only hear the wind’s howl until it died, the storm dissipating all at once. 

The creature was gone, but Mingi could hear the yells and he knew.

“He is headed for the deck, Captain!” 

Mingi and Hongjoong charged to the deck, Yeosang behind them as they raced through the ship. Freezing crewmembers were passed, none of them severely injured but all of them chilled and some of them suffering from shallow cuts that Mingi assumed were caused by ice. 

The wail ripped through the air before they even reached the deck. It was the most haunting sound Mingi had ever heard, cutting to his bones in a way even the chill hadn’t. Goosebumps danced over his skin as he and the captain cautiously emerged onto the deck, weapons at the ready in case the creature attacked again. 

But instead of attacking, the boy merely stood at the bow of the ship. For several long minutes he was motionless, almost a statue; but then he moved, climbing over the rail and onto the figurehead to disappear below Mingi’s line of vision. The first mate started forward, rushing to peer over the edge - the creature was nestled in the dip where the figurehead’s wings curved back, streamlined along the side of the ship. It was like a seat created unintentionally, and the creature had found it just by looking. 

At Mingi’s elbow, Hongjoong murmured, “Leave him there; he cannot go anywhere, and I believe he has realized that. It would be best to give him space until he decides to return to the deck.”

“After I feed him,” groused Yeosang. “I am absolutely certain those monsters starved the poor thing.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hiii guess who's back and still is unreliable at updating (that's right, me)! 
> 
> here's a shameless twitter plug: follow me @neoculturedork :D


	5. [005] Frost

Watching Yeosang approach the creature and try to tempt him to emerge from his hiding place with food was far less boring than Mingi had anticipated. After a few long moments of the saw-bones murmuring quiet assurances (or, what the first mate assumed were assurances), the creature quietly slipped from his hiding place long enough to retrieve an apple from Yeosang and proceeded to tuck himself away once again. 

It was only once the creature took his first bite out of the apple that Yeosang walked away, approaching Mingi and Hongjoong with an expression that was stormy. It was just like Yeosang to already be attached to a potentially dangerous creature that they couldn’t even communicate with. Yet Mingi couldn’t fault him; with the circumstances that he’d found the boy in, he couldn’t help but wonder if maybe he himself would develop the same soft spot. His feelings didn’t always follow the dictation of his mind, and he didn’t always do what he knew would be best for himself and the others aboard the  _ Wonderland _ . 

“This is all we can do for the time being,” Hongjoong reminded the two men who stood close to him, his voice a low murmur that they could scarcely hear over the chaos on the deck. “Allow him to adjust and get a feel for his surroundings. Perhaps he will realize that we mean him no harm.” 

“Or perhaps he will try to attack us,” Mingi muttered darkly, but Yeosang scowled at him. The first mate could understand why; he himself didn’t even know where that thought had come from. 

Hongjoong shook his head, expression one of slight disappointment. “Benefit of the doubt, Mingi, the poor thing must surely be traumatized.” The captain glanced at the creature, who bit the stem of the apple and immediately spat it out, glaring after the offending piece of branch as it fell to the churning water below. “Until he proves hostile, we will not treat him as such.” 

Mingi nodded.

Their captain sighed. “I am going to return to my cabin, and to my work,” he told the two. “Find something to occupy yourselves in the meantime.” And with that, their small circle dispersed, Yeosang disappearing below, Hongjoong returning to his cabin and Mingi...

Mingi returned to his duties with the creature on his mind, occasionally returning to the deck to see if the boy had moved; he was always in the same place that Mingi had left him in, staring off into the distance across the vast expanse of the sea that stretched in all directions. The mournful expression never left his face either, features always drawn in sorrow as his eyes searched the horizon for… whatever it was that he sought. 

Mingi could only wonder where the strange boy had come from; he had never heard a word such as the one the creature had continued to repeat, nor had he encountered people who dressed quite like he did. And then there was the phenomena of the feeling of ice and snow, cold harsh winds sweeping throughout their ship… he was a being that Mingi didn’t know the first thing about. Except, of course, that he apparently would have made excellent manticore bait - but that was nothing the pirate would have ever desired to know. 

As though he knew Mingi was thinking about him, the creature raised his head and twisted, peering around the figurehead to stare at the pirate with eyes the color of frost and just as cold. 

Throat suddenly dry and palms damp with sweat for reasons that he couldn’t comprehend, Mingi swallowed. Part of him wanted to look away, but it was though there was something holding his eyes on the creature that was comfortably perched on the figurehead; like his frigid stare had bewitched the pirate, leaving him unable to tear his eyes off the stranger that was watching him without blinking. 

Then the boy looked away, and the spell was broken. Mingi heaved a tiny sigh of relief and turned on his heel to find something to do as far from the figurehead, and the creature inhabiting it, as he could. 

At least until his heart stopped hammering. 

* * *

Mingi remained below until Yeosang found him mopping the brig, the last chore he could use as an excuse to evade the deck. When he straightened to wipe sweat from his forehead, the first mate saw Yeosang in the doorway, arms crossed over his chest and one foot in front of the other as he watched with both brows raised. Maybe he was disappointed in Mingi for trying to avoid the strange boy. If he even knew that was what the first mate was doing. 

Mingi was a big, strong, intimidating pirate who feared nothing and was definitely not avoiding a small boy with eyes of ice. 

“What are you doing down here, Mingi?” Yeosang demanded. “This is what we have swabs for.” 

“If you want it done right, you have to do it yourself,” Mingi grinned, but he knew when Yeosang’s brows furrowed that the saw-bones saw through the lie. Immediately, the first mate sobered and chose to tell some of the truth, rather than telling a blatant lie. “I wanted some space to think.” 

“About what? Our… guest?” 

“Correct,” Mingi answered grimly. He dipped the mop back in the bucket and slapped it back on the floor. Droplets of water spattered across the wooden floor, reminding Mingi of a blood spatter. “Where did he come from? Where do we deliver him to? Who is he? And better than that,  _ what  _ is he? Is he… like Hongjoong?” 

Yeosang grimaced. “You know that is a dangerous topic to be dipping into, Mingi. We have both seen how well Hongjoong responds.” 

“I am not asking about the captain.” Mingi pushed the mop on the floor, scrubbing at a persevering stain. “I already know all that I need to about Hongjoong. The boy, however… we already know there had to have been more to this than just baiting a manticore. That cold, the snow, the ice, just his response to being on a ship again… I think there was more.” He checked the floor, growled, and scrubbed harder at the spot that was stained. “And surely you and Hongjoong have suspicions as well.” 

“It has nothing to do with him being… like Hongjoong, however,” Yeosang said quietly. 

“I do not mean they are of the same, but we have both witnessed Hongjoong do amazing things. Things similar to that display of winter, when he wanted to escape.” Mingi moved the mop again. The stain was still there. “I think there are similarities, not that they could be… you know. Of the same kind.” When he looked over at Yeosang, the saw-bones’ brows were drawn in thought. Mingi turned back to his mopping, the squelch of the brush on the floor the only sound that passed between them until Yeosang drew in a sigh.

“And tell me, where do all of these thoughts lead to? What is the end of your thought train?” 

Mingi lowered the mop and straightened, looking Yeosang in the eye. “We need to start asking the captain questions - questions about Seonghwa.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> h-hi not updating is still my friend uwu

**Author's Note:**

> I'm happy that new JongGi content is slowly trickling in but I just had to drop a new story because THIS IDEA. THIS IDEA HAS BEEN HAUNTING ME. Y'all have no idea how long I've been putting off this story UwU and I have all the things planned


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